


EMPLOYEES ONLY

by absurdiist (workthewentz)



Series: Stucky Tumblr AUs [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, M/M, San Diego Comic-Con, The Heroes Are Actors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 18:57:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11515443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/workthewentz/pseuds/absurdiist
Summary: Natasha sighed as she glanced over at Sam, who was busy peering at a booth of Falcon fanart. "Yes, James. Zoning out again? I've told you a billion times. Steve is going to be here and we're early so we can stand in line to meet him.""Steve as in... Steve Rogers? Captain America?"Bucky accompanies Natasha and Sam to Comic-Con, where he meets Steve Rogers, the actor that brings his favorite superhero to life. Cuteness ensues.





	EMPLOYEES ONLY

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to write Steve as a cosplayer who just happens to look like the real Captain America, but my brain took off on this without my permission. Enjoy!
> 
> Also, this has not been betaed, so sorry for any mistakes/continuity errors.

The crowds were getting to be too much.

Crowds were usually too much, these days, but Nat and Sam had been asking him to come along with them since last year. He didn't want to disappoint them by saying no. 

So he let Nat continue to drag him along through the hordes of Comic-Con cosplayers and artists and fans. He wanted to screw his eyes shut, but the idea of running into anyone and having to apologize was even more daunting. So he just half-walked, half-stumbled behind Natasha, his eyes wide open like saucers.

The truth was, Bucky was a nerd. He liked comics. He liked Fables and Game of Thrones. And he fucking loved Marvel movies. But since coming back from two tours in Afghanistan, one that ended badly and took his left arm, he was burnt out on everything he'd supposedly loved. Comics were suddenly too bright, too chaotic to read. Game of Thrones was too violent. He preferred to spend his time reading fantasy, sci-fi, even teen lit; anything that kept his mind off what he'd seen helped him cope with his losses. The one thing that wasn't too much, though, was the movies. 

At the support group, Sam used to say that everyone had a  _thing_. Something that they grasped onto from their days before the war and before the tragedy, that reminded them of home without being painful. Marvel was Bucky's  _thing_. He watched the movies with an obsessive passion, enjoying debunking theories and drooling over the heroes just as much as the next fan. And Jesus, that Captain America. He was the literal bane of Bucky's existence – and the reason he'd discovered the other part of his sexuality, but who needed to know that, really?

And if he had a Tumblr account dedicated to compiling photos of Captain America's ass, and by extension the actor's who played him, no one needed to know that either.

"James!" Except Natasha.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by said redhead, who was waving a hand in front of his face. "You have _got_ to stop zoning out and c'mon! We're gonna miss Cap."

Bucky's mouth went dry. "Cap?" 

Natasha sighed as she glanced over at Sam, who was busy peering at a booth of _Falcon_ fanart. "Yes, James. Zoning out again? I've told you a billion times. Steve is going to be here and we're early so we can stand in line to meet him." 

"Steve as in... Steve Rogers? Captain America?"

Nat glared at him as if she was _really_ sick of his density, and Sam rejoined them. "Did you guys know I look just like the Falcon?"

"Sure you do, Sam," said Bucky.

"Seriously. Aside from the dashingly good looks, I mean." Natasha shook her head fondly and dragged the two boys along. 

 

Bucky's head snapped up when the chatter started. "Oh my god, it's him," Sam said as he elbowed Bucky in his side. True to his word, Steve Rogers stepped out from behind a curtain, looking like way too many of Bucky's wet dreams personified. His jaw was chiseled and perfect, he was beefed up for the release of the newest movie. Bucky was close enough to get a look at his eyes and they were sparkling like he loved the attention. But at the same time, his smile was a bit too sharp.

"Hi, I'm Bucky," he said as he went down the line and held out a collector's copy of the Captain America Volume 1 cover for Steve to sign.

"Hi. I'm Steve. How are you doing?" Bucky had planned on exchanging the normal, 'I'm fine! How are you?' 'I'm fine, thank you.' pleasantries, but then Steve looked up at him, brows furrowed like he actually wanted to know, and nobody ever actually wanted to know, and some kind of dam in Bucky broke.

"I'm really nervous, actually. These things are really crowded and I don't do that well with crowds... My friends dragged me here to meet you, though, and I'm really happy to be doing that, so..." Bucky mumbled, refusing to look at Steve. Instead, he fixated on a speck of dust on the shoulder of Steve's way too fucking tight gray t shirt. 

"Well, Bucky," and damn it if Steve saying his name didn't do all kind of warm and fuzzy things to him. And so he looked up and, oh _God_ , Steve was fucking smiling at him. Not that fake, sharp smile, but a real one that made the crow's feet on the sides of his eyes stand out. "I'm really glad you're here too. Is there anything special you'd like to me to write?"

"'To Bucky' is fine," Bucky said, and went back to the speck. "Thanks, Steve." 

 

While in line for pictures, Nat pushed her thick glasses up on the bridge of her nose and practically sneered with faux jealousy. “No fair,” she whined. “Why does he get to look at _you_ like that?” Bucky rolled his eyes at her but, in true Natasha fashion, she continued. “All sparkly eyes.” She deepened her voice to imitate Steve. “‘Oh, I’m so happy you’re here, Bucky. I love you so much, Bucky.’” Sam shoved her lightly. 

“Let the man be happy, Nat. It’s not every day he gets to meet the love of his life.”

“Haha, very funny.”

The photographer motioned to them that they were next and Bucky's eyes glazed over when he noticed Steve flexing next to a cute brown-haired girl in the iconic pose on the 'We Can Do It!' poster. "Don't get short of breath, now," Sam teased as he noticed Bucky staring at Steve's impressive biceps. The girl hugged Steve and stepped away and Bucky followed Sam and Nat onto their spot in front of the blue backdrop. 

"What pose do you guys wanna do?" Steve asked. 

Nat immediately jumped to answer; she'd been thinking about this for weeks. "Can you act like you're proposing to Bucky, and Sam and I will act surprised?" 

Bucky made a small sound of protest that was lost under Steve's boisterous laugh. "Sure!" He stepped forward, motioning to Bucky to do the same, and got down on one knee. He reached for Bucky's left hand, but soon realized it was missing up to the shoulder. Rather than kicking up a fuss, he simply grabbed Bucky's other hand, taking one look at Bucky's flushed, mortified face and laughing again. The photographer quickly snapped the photo and then ushered in the next group. "Have fun at the rest of the con, guys!" Steve called.

"You traitors!" Bucky yelled as soon as they were out of earshot. Natasha immediately cracked up, doubling over with laughter, while Sam looked at him with pity.

"Sorry, man. But you know how she is. I wasn't about to argue." 

Bucky glared at Nat as she straightened up, fixing her glasses. "How do you think your new husband would feel if he heard you?" she asked. Do you want him to take the proposal back?" 

He just glared harder and stalked off in the direction of the Game of Thrones panel. 

 

Bucky was hyperventilating. 

Okay, maybe that was overreacting. His breathing was heavy and his eyes wouldn't focus on anything and he was pretty sure that person had just tried to sneak up on him and holy shit they had a knife and he was definitely not overreacting. This was hyperventilation and he was going to die right here behind this door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY and they were probably going to kick him out for coming behind this door anyway–

Breathe, calm down, you're safe, it's okay, and wait, was that coming from another person?

After a couple of deep breaths, Bucky finally was able to calm down enough to become aware of his surroundings. He was in a long service hallway at the convention center, he was sitting in a corner with his back to the wall, and Steve Rogers was... sitting in front of him?

He rubbed his eyes and, yep, that was definitely Steve. Kneeling on the tile floor and looking extremely concerned, giving him the same look he'd given when he asked how Bucky was doing. 

"Bucky, you're safe. It's okay. Breathe. In, and out. In, and out. There you go." 

"Steve?"

"Hey, you're responding now. That's good. Do you wanna get up?"

Bucky nodded, so Steve held out a hand to pull him to his feet. 

"I saw what happened. People really shouldn't think it's funny to sneak up on anyone like that. Taking the costume way too seriously." He shook his head.

"It's fine, really. Not their fault. People shouldn't miss out on fun just 'cause someone like me might overreact," Bucky mumbled.

Steve's face pinched tightly as if he strongly disagreed, but he didn't respond. "How are you doing?"

And that's when it hit. "Holy shit," Bucky said as his eyes widened. "I'm talking to Steve Rogers about an anxiety attack in a hallway. You're Steve Rogers."

Steve at least had the humility to look amused. "Yeah, in the flesh."

 

Steve had procured a bottle of water from somewhere – Bucky was convinced it was magic – and they were back on the floor, Steve sitting cross-legged as Bucky stretched out.

"How'd you know what to do?"

"Hm?"

"My anxiety attack," Bucky said before taking a swig. "Most people just hover, or try to touch me, but you knew to tell me I was safe and to breathe." 

Steve nodded. "My mom, she was a trauma nurse. I was around sometimes when she had to calm down patients, or families who couldn't cope with a loss."

"That must've been hard for you."

He shrugged. "It at least got me used to hospitals." When Bucky peered at him with a curious look, he continued. "I was a sick kid, in and out of care a lot." Bucky nodded. 

"I remember reading something about that. There's not a lot about you on the Internet, though," he pointed out.

"I like to keep my life... mine, you know? When everything's out there, it kind of kills privacy." Steve gestured to the hallway they were sitting in. "For example, this? This is the most privacy I've had in, what, three weeks? Even when I'm home, I have to constantly watch what I post, who I talk to, for fear that it'll give my location away. My neighbors know I'm an actor, so I have this irrational fear of them selling my address to the media." 

Bucky laughed, then realized how that might look and quickly backtracked. "I'm not laughing at you. It's just, I have the same fear and no one even knows who I am."

It was Steve's turn to look curious. 

"I was a POW," Bucky confessed, and found himself surprised. He barely ever talked about this in group sessions at the VA, much less in a one-on-one conversation. "How I lost my arm. They ambushed us, experimented on me, tried to see if they could mind control me, gave me this weird prosthetic that almost killed me. I escaped and freed fourteen men, but I'm still scared that one day they'll come back for me to finish me off."

He glanced over at Steve, expecting to see sadness or even pity, but Steve looked proud. "Bucky, that's the bravest thing I've ever heard." When Bucky protested, Steve cut him off. "You freed yourself. And you paid a high price for it, but you got yourself out of there. I just act like I've experienced war onscreen. But it's nothing compared to living it."

"That's probably why I gravitate towards Cap so much," Bucky said, and nodded in Steve's direction. 

"He became Captain America to free prisoners of war," Steve said with something like wonder in his eyes when he looked at Bucky. 

Bucky eloquently mumbled, "Yeah."

The EMPLOYEES ONLY door burst open and in stepped Gabe, one of Steve's co-stars. Bucky and Steve both looked up at him, eyes wide. "Jesus, Rogers, there you are. We've been looking for you. Susan's going to throw a fit. She was in the middle of a rant when I left about how 'publicists are never respected, Gabe, never respected.'"

"Okay, hold on." Steve stood gracefully while Bucky scrambled to get up, wondering how Steve had managed to slip away and out of sight, and why he'd sat with him when he was obviously needed elsewhere. He turned to Bucky and placed a hand on his right shoulder to steady him. "Give me your phone." Bucky complied, yanking it out of his back pocket and noticing no less than twenty missed calls from Sam and Nat, and watched as Steve quickly typed his number in. "Make sure you text me." 

"Make sure you text him!" Gabe called as they literally jogged away. Then the door slammed, and Steve was gone.

 

Bucky spotted his friends near the food section of the con, sitting miserably and scanning the area for Bucky. Both their phones were out on the table in front of them.

Sam noticed him walking towards them first. "Where the hell were you, man? You got nervous and then disappeared. We walked the entire place three times over!"

Nat just glared.

"I'm so sorry for making you worry. Some idiot snuck up on me. One good thing did come out of it, though." Bucky held up his phone and showed them Steve's contact information, laughing at the photo Steve had apparently had time to take without Bucky noticing. 

Nat continued to glare. Sam's eyes widened. "Is that...?"

Bucky nodded in agreement. "I know."

Natasha finally stopped glaring. "I'm very happy for you. But next time, can you at least text us before you go eloping with famous actors?"

"Nat!" Bucky groaned. Sam cracked up laughing.

And Bucky composed a text to Steve.


End file.
